Hammers learn the hard way as Haaland makes a flying start

West Ham 0 Manchester City 2 Haaland 36 (pen); 65

- Malik Ouzia

COME the final day of the Premier League campaign nine months from now, this defeat by Manchester City is unlikely to stand out as a season defining result for West Ham.

But for the division and English football more broadly, it may just prove a highly significant one.

In the context of this season, for sure, should Erling Haaland's goals fire City to the defence of their title. Already, after one round of fixtures, they have opened up an advantage over most likely challengers Liverpool that is greater than the fine margin between the two brilliant sides after 38 last term.

Beyond that, who knows? Might the Norwegian's first Premier League goal here, a penalty won and then confidently converted, before long be replayed at the start of a Hundred Club montage? Might the second, a cool finish after romping clear of the backline to latch onto a perfect Kevin De Bruyne pass, become the trademark of the first truly great centre-forward career to get under way in the Premier League since the rather less telegraphed emergence of Harry Kane?

Such talk is, of course, premature; the kind of lurch toward an extreme that Pep Guardiola was referring to when he claimed Haaland had gone from potential Premier League bust to the next Alan Shearer or Thierry Henry in the space of a week.